Michel Foucault has had an extraordinary impact on writers in the human sciences since his first book Madness and Civilization appeared in English. This title assesses the reactions to Madness and Civilization.

The discovery and treatment of insanity remains one of the most debated and discussed issues in social history. Focusing on the second half of the nineteenth century, The Politics of Madness provides a new perspective on this important topic, based on research drawn from both local and national material. Within a social and cultural history of the English political and class order, it presents a fresh appraisal of the significance of the asylum in the decades following the creation of a national asylum system in 1845. Arguing that the new asylums provided a meeting place for different social interests and aspirations, the text asserts that this then marked a transition in provincial power relations from the landed interests to the new coalition of professional, commercial and populist groups, which gained control of the public asylums at the end of the period surveyed.

Sexual confessions on television talk shows. Gender and medical discourse in colonial India. River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho. White women in a German colony. Henry James' thwarted love. What do these seemingly diverse subjects have in common? All address, in different ways, social and cultural attempts to contain eroticism by delineating the perimeters of genders. They scrutinize the political investments in the construction of gender in such disparate locations as contemporary Hollywood, Renaissance England, colonial India and Africa, and in modern and contemporary homosexual discourse communities and in Freud's sessions with Dora. But whether the gendering of the subject follows the dictates of conservative politics or the radical agenda of a marginalized interest, the essays reveal the erotic overflow—the flood—that cannot be contained within any one gender identity. In examining how the erotic escapes containment, this work discloses problems inherent in the intersections of gender and desire. [ go to the Genders website ]

This book focuses on the centrality of illness—particularly psychosomatic illness—as an imaginative construct in Victorian culture. It shows how illness shaped the terms through which people perceived relationships between body and mind, self and other, private and public, and how Victorians tried to understand and control their world through a process of physiological and pathological definition.

How responsible are mentally disordered offenders for their crimes? Aimed specifically at understanding the social context of the serious criminal offender who is deemed to be mentally abnormal, this new edition of Offenders, Deviants or Patients? takes into account the many changes in legal practice, methods of treatment and attitudes since the first edition was published in 1980. Herschel Prins examines the relationship between mental abnormality and criminal behaviour, the extent to which this relationship is used (or misused) in the criminal courts and the various facilities that are currently available for treatment. Unique in its multidisciplinary approach Offenders, Deviants or Patients? will be invaluable to all those who come into contact with serious offenders.

Andrew Scull studies the evolution of the treatment of lunacy in England, tracing transformations in social practices & beliefs, the development of institutional management of the mad, & exposing the contrasts between the expectations of asylum founders & the harsh realities of institutional life. Originally published: 1993.

Critical Psychiatry and Mental Health critically explores the current theory and practice of ethno-psychiatry and multicultural mental health practices and policies. Through an in-depth discussion of the work of Suman Fernando, one of the world’s leading scholars and researchers in race, culture and mental health, an international selection of contributors discuss and debate issues affecting mental health and minority ethnic individuals and groups. The book offers a new approach to global mental health, arguing that the use of outdated and outmoded ways in which psychiatry is researched and practiced is a thing of the past, that social justice can only be achieved through a more democratic approach to mental health care and emphasising that the inclusion of cultural and traditional healing methods and practices are vital to meeting diverse needs. Split into five parts, the book covers: Critique of Western Psychiatry and Mental Health Challenges and Opportunities in Mental Health Care Training and Development in Mental Health Practice Transnational Contexts: Engaging the work of Suman Fernando Personal Reflections on Suman Fernando’s Life and Work Critical Psychiatry and Mental Health is ideal for researchers and practitioners in health and mental health, psychiatry, counselling and psychotherapy and anyone interested in the intersection of race, culture and mental health.